Accrington Brick was famous the world over. The good old Noris were renowned for their toughness - after all, thousands of them were used in the foundations of the Empire State Building.

This photograph taken in 1963 inside the new Accrington Brick and Tile company factory at Whinney Hill shows fired bricks on kiln cars before being separated and going through quality control.

Debate still rages about why they were known as Noris. Som believe it was an error when they put the sign on the brickworks chimney so that the word iron read backwards, others say it was a deliberate play on the word iron because the bricks were so tough.